Ezra Prays About Intermarriage
1 After these things had been done, the officials approached me and said, "The people of Israel and the priests and the
1Levites have not separated themselves from the peoples of the lands
2with their abominations, from the
3Canaanites, the Hittites, the Perizzites, the Jebusites, the Ammonites, the Moabites, the Egyptians, and the Amorites.
2
4For they have taken some of their daughters to be wives for themselves and for their sons, so that the
5holy race has
6mixed itself with the peoples of the lands. And in this faithlessness the hand of the officials and chief men has been foremost."
3
As soon as I heard this, I
7tore my garment and my cloak and pulled hair from my head and beard and
8sat appalled.
4
Then all who
9trembled at the words of the God of Israel, because of the faithlessness of the returned exiles, gathered around me while I sat
10appalled until the evening sacrifice.
5
And at the
11evening sacrifice I rose from my fasting, with my garment
12and my cloak torn, and fell upon my knees
13and spread out my hands to the LORD my God,
6
saying: "O my God, I am ashamed and blush to lift my face to you, my God, for our iniquities
14have risen higher than our heads, and our
15guilt has
16mounted up to the heavens.
7
17From the days of our fathers to this day we have been in great
18guilt. And for our iniquities we, our kings, and our priests have been given into the hand of the kings of the lands, to the sword, to captivity, to plundering,
19and to utter shame, as it is today.
8
But now for a brief moment favor has been shown by the LORD our God, to leave us a
20remnant and to give us a
21secure hold within his holy place, that our God may
22brighten our eyes and grant us a little reviving in our slavery.
9
23For we are slaves. Yet our God has not forsaken us in our slavery,
24but has extended to us his steadfast love before the kings of Persia, to grant us some reviving to set up the house of our God, to repair its ruins, and to give us protection in Judea and Jerusalem.
10
"And now, O our God, what shall we say after this? For we have forsaken your commandments,